The first two of these involve women in my parents' age group who lived in our little village of Manzanita, Washington -- year-round population 6, summer and sometimes weekend population 20 to 30. (My greater community was Vashon Island, Washington; my post office was Dockton. Manzanita was just a big bunch of summer homes up against the salt water; the local general store had closed in 1949.) Manzanita was in many ways the kind of village that altogether raise children. I was about 11 when Coralee, one of the summer people, told me that all languages spoken in Europe were descended from Latin, and if I was not aware of this incontrovertible fact, it was because I was only 11 and couldn't possibly be aware of such things. My father was a linguist, and I'd read numerous books of his. The Germanic languages were not descended from Latin, nor were the Slavic ones, nor was modern Greek; and then there are languages like Finnish and Hungarian, that aren't even "cousin" languages of the Indo-European ones. But being 11 years old, I could not convince Coralee.
Later, another summer woman, Aileen McLaughlin, tried to tell me over and over again that a true Manx cat has no tail at all. First of all, all that I had said was that a kitten we had, who had been born with an extremely truncated tail and long rabbit-like hind legs, showed some distinct characteristics of being part Manx. I did not say, "We can show this cat at a cat show as a Manx and it will win." However, 43 years later and having read even more about cats, I *know* that a cat can be of purely Manx derivation and still have somewhat of a tail, or in some cases a full tail; you can't show it at a cat show as Manx, but the genetics really does make this possible, and one writer says that a Manx *has* to have some out-crossing to be tailless. I can't for the life of me figure out how this would work, but again, it's an authority saying this, not I.
Later on, when I first got into high school, an English teacher, Mr. Beattie, was talking to the class about words that are commonly misspelled. He said, "'Occasion' is an example of this. A lot of ignorant people spell it 'o-c-c-a-s-i-o-n,'along with numerous other misspellings; but if you want to get it right, it's 'o-c-c-a-i-s-i-o-n.'" One Rod McCallum, who sat next to me, let me borrow his dictionary and I corrected him. I do not recall Mr. Beattie's reaction. However, later on, Mr. Beattie was saying that all nouns can be fitted into four categories: Common, proper, abstract, and concrete. I tried to explain that "abstract" and "concrete" were actually divisions of "common." He completely blew up at me and told me that he had the authority to tell the class what the truth was about such matters, that I was completely incompetent to discuss the subject, and I should quit pretending I knew what I was talking about. I was kicked up one grade at the end of the semester, and never had to deal with Mr. Beattie again. Sometime after that, he got a job at a different school as a principal. I was very frightened for the kids he would be overseeing! (Note: Other kids I was in school with talked to me about what a wonderful teacher Mr. Beattie was. I tried to point out that he didn't know his subject. I got nowhere.)
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'Knew was wrong"
Date: 2007-03-27 08:01 pm (UTC)Later, another summer woman, Aileen McLaughlin, tried to tell me over and over again that a true Manx cat has no tail at all. First of all, all that I had said was that a kitten we had, who had been born with an extremely truncated tail and long rabbit-like hind legs, showed some distinct characteristics of being part Manx. I did not say, "We can show this cat at a cat show as a Manx and it will win." However, 43 years later and having read even more about cats, I *know* that a cat can be of purely Manx derivation and still have somewhat of a tail, or in some cases a full tail; you can't show it at a cat show as Manx, but the genetics really does make this possible, and one writer says that a Manx *has* to have some out-crossing to be tailless. I can't for the life of me figure out how this would work, but again, it's an authority saying this, not I.
Later on, when I first got into high school, an English teacher, Mr. Beattie, was talking to the class about words that are commonly misspelled. He said, "'Occasion' is an example of this. A lot of ignorant people spell it 'o-c-c-a-s-i-o-n,'along with numerous other misspellings; but if you want to get it right, it's 'o-c-c-a-i-s-i-o-n.'"
One Rod McCallum, who sat next to me, let me borrow his dictionary and I corrected him. I do not recall Mr. Beattie's reaction. However, later on, Mr. Beattie was saying that all nouns can be fitted into four categories: Common, proper, abstract, and concrete. I tried to explain that "abstract" and "concrete" were actually divisions of "common." He completely blew up at me and told me that he had the authority to tell the class what the truth was about such matters, that I was completely incompetent to discuss the subject, and I should quit pretending I knew what I was talking about. I was kicked up one grade at the end of the semester, and never had to deal with Mr. Beattie again. Sometime after that, he got a job at a different school as a principal. I was very frightened for the kids he would be overseeing! (Note: Other kids I was in school with talked to me about what a wonderful teacher Mr. Beattie was. I tried to point out that he didn't know his subject. I got nowhere.)
Nate B.